p4-changelist-management

name	p4-changelist-management
description	P4 changelist workflows — create, list, submit, shelve, unshelve, and manage changelists and shelved files via P4 MCP tools. Use when: creating changelists, editing files, shelving, unshelving, submitting, organizing changes, or managing pending work in P4.

Changelist Management

Use the query_changelists, modify_changelists, query_shelves, and modify_shelves tools to manage P4 changelists and shelved files.

Querying Changelists

Action	Purpose	Key Parameters
list	List changelists with filters	status, user, workspace_name, depot_path, max_results
get	Get full changelist details	changelist_id

Modifying Changelists

Action	Purpose	Key Parameters
create	Create a new pending changelist	description
update	Update changelist description or fields	changelist_id, description
submit	Submit a pending changelist	changelist_id
delete	Delete an empty pending changelist (requires approval)	changelist_id
move_files	Move files to a target changelist	changelist_id, file_paths

Querying Shelves

Action	Purpose	Key Parameters
list	List shelved changelists	user, max_results
diff	View diff of shelved files	changelist_id
files	List files in a shelved changelist	changelist_id

Modifying Shelves

Action	Purpose	Key Parameters
shelve	Shelve files from a pending changelist	changelist_id, file_paths
unshelve	Unshelve files back to the same changelist	changelist_id, file_paths
unshelve_to_changelist	Unshelve files into a different changelist	changelist_id, target_changelist, file_paths
update	Update shelved files with new edits	changelist_id, file_paths
delete	Delete shelved files (requires approval)	changelist_id, file_paths, force

Common Workflows

Make and submit a change

1. modify_changelists → create a pending changelist
2. modify_files → edit (or add/delete) to open files for edit in the changelist
3. modify_changelists → submit to commit the change

Shelve work in progress

1. modify_changelists → create a pending changelist
2. modify_files → edit to open files
3. modify_shelves → shelve to store changes server-side
4. modify_files → revert local copies (shelve is preserved)

Resume shelved work

1. query_shelves → list to find your shelved changelists
2. modify_shelves → unshelve to restore files to your workspace
3. Continue editing, then modify_changelists → submit

Organize files across changelists

1. query_changelists → list with status=pending to see your open changelists
2. modify_changelists → move_files to reorganize files between changelists

Best Practices

• Always provide a meaningful description when creating changelists.
• Shelve before sharing work with others (e.g., for code review).
• Use query_shelves → diff to verify shelved content before unshelving.
• Submit changelists promptly to avoid long-lived pending changes.
• Use move_files to keep changelists focused on a single logical change.